While NFC technology has quite a large bit of potential, it doesn’t appear Apple (News - Alert) is willing to allow the tech to find that potential just yet. After the Cupertino-based company announced the Apple Pay service as part of the iPhone 6 and iPhone (News - Alert) 6 Plus features, people started dreaming about all the ways they could take advantage of the iOS NFC. It turns out, at least for now, the only way people will be able to use the tech is by paying for their purchases, at least in the beginning.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Apple is keeping its NFC tech on lockdown. The company did the same thing when it comes to the Touch ID technology it rolled out on the iPhone 5S. Developers were hoping they would get a shot at both technologies when they were first announced and now they’ve been disappointed twice.
It does stand to reason that Apple might loosen its stance when it comes to Apple Pay at some point relatively soon. Mobile payments are the top reason for the NFC technology being included in the new models, but the ability to integrate NFC into a user’s favorite application or pairing the phone with speakers is too attractive to ignore.
Apple certainly understands the NFC tech has far reaching implications. During the unveiling of the Apple Watch the device was demoed unlocking a hotel room. This indicates a couple of factors. The first factor is the Cupertino firm obviously has some uses in mind for NFC in the near future. It also appears Apple is planning on releasing the technology to select developers before it releases the technology behind Apple Pay to the developer community as a whole. Apple can’t really be blamed for wanting to make sure it has a tight reign on its touch-less payment system, the tech is still pretty new. The sky is still the limit when it comes to NFC’s implications.
Edited by Maurice Nagle
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